Many N.H. voters weary of long presidential campaign

DOVER — After digesting months of stump speeches, advertisements and political attacks, many New Hampshire voters are unified on one point this November: they're ready for the election to be over.

Under siege for much of the last few months by Democrats and Republicans alike, voters like Ashlynne Richard say they'll feel a sense of relief once the polls close on Nov. 6, regardless of who wins.

“I'm tired of both sides, and their string of back-and-forth bouts,” the 22-year-old Dover resident said Saturday, a few days before Election Day.

Dover resident Ashley Carroll was also looking forward to a respite from the politicking.

“It's just such a big thing that it really clouds a lot of people's minds, and other people's feelings, I think,” Carroll said. “A lot of people get frustrated, and I just don't do well with it.”

After re-energizing his supporters in the first presidential debate. Romney has remained in a virtual tie with Obama in the polls, both nationally and in New Hampshire.

With voters in most states heavily in favor of one candidate or the other, the campaigns have been focusing their resources this year on New Hampshire and less than half a dozen other so-called “swing states.”

Both campaigns have eyed New Hampshire's four Electoral College votes as a potential means of clearing the 270-vote hurdle needed to win the race.

But with New Hampshire in the crosshairs, voters like Becky Wooley and her daughter have started to feel like the collateral damage.

Wooley, a 46-year-old from New Castle, remains undecided about who she'll vote for in the presidential race on Tuesday. Either way, she'll be glad for the political commercials to come to an end. Her 21-year-old daughter, Megan, said she'll be happy once the political signs disappear from people's lawns.

“I'll be relieved not to get all the stupid mail,” said 33-year-old Josh Henry of Dover.

With Election Day drawing closer, analysts have gamed out a range of scenarios for the outcome of Tuesday's contest, including some that forecast Romney winning the popular vote, but losing the race by failing to win the Electoral College.

While the Electoral College has been maligned by many for its potential to overturn the popular vote, few people who were surveyed about the Electoral College in downtown Dover Saturday hold a strident opinion about the long-standing voting system.

“I really haven't given it a thought,” said 60-year-old Dover resident Ted Jeffery.

“It would depend on the outcome,” said 26-year-old Nate Lanning, also of Dover.

Not all voters were ambivalent. Rochester resident Patti Aiken said she does not think ill of the Electoral College system, even though it could potentially deliver the presidency to the man favored by a minority of Americans.

“I don't actually have a problem with that,” the 50-year-old said. “I don't have any negative (opinion).”

South Berwick, Maine, resident Rick Poulin said the circumstances appear to be beyond control for the 2012 election. He didn't find merit in griping about the country's electoral system days away from the contest.

“(Electing a president that did not win the popular vote) probably wouldn't be bad thing, and whatever happens, happens,” he said. “If it goes that way, we can't really control it.”

Julia Henry also expressed a feeling of powerlessness in the face of the country's political machinery. The 33-year-old from Dover said a presidential victory that didn't comport with the popular vote “would be disappointing.”

“It's tricky for me,” said Run Guan, a 44-year-old Garrison City resident. “I remember with George Bush, that kind of thing, so I don't know how to say it. That would be too bad.”

For 33-year-old Tamsyn Churchill she finds some comfort in the fact that the country's governing system relies on checks and balances between power brokers.

“So far, I don't feel like it's done a horrible job of evening things out,” the Somersworth resident said, “because population dispersion doesn't always reflect the whole country. so, I don't think I would be so upset.”